Orange Mountain Verjus, Borenore

Verjus has been in use to some degree (both culinary and medicinal) since ancient European times right through the Middle Ages but proudly, Aussie icon Maggie Beer was the first person to produce verjus in a commercial capacity, world wide. Following on from that, Maggie’s cooks books, television show The Cook and the Chef and her appearances on MasterChef can certainly be credited for raising awareness and demand for this product.

So, what is verjus? In essence verjus is a liquid made from unripe wines grapes and is ideal for use in dressings, marinades and for deglazing pans. Terry from Orange Mountain Wines started to make verjus to avoid wastage of grapes from his vineyard and winery located at Borneore, just outside of Orange.

L to R: Autumn vines at Orange Mountain Wines, Borenore. The barrel press used to extract every ounce of liquid from freshly picked grapes.

Terry explains that he uses bunch thinning on his vineyard in order to reduce the grapes growing on his vines thereby making it easier for his plants to grow a healthier crop and hopefully superior wines! The unripe wine grapes picked during the thinning process usually go to waste, however, to his credit and our joy, Terry chose to utilise them to create verjus. This sustainable view of vineyard management also makes commercial sense as Terry gets more value from of his crop and is essentially diversifying his product offering: wines AND verjus. If it looks like it may be a bad year for wine, Terry and Julie also have the option to make more verjus, and can make that call early in the season, something no other Orange winemakers currently do.

The process of creating verjus starts with picking during December or January when the grapes are still small, hard, green and acidic with no juice. For those familiar with winemaking terms, this is usually a Baume level of 7 – 9. If picking were to be left only two weeks after this time, the sugar levels in the grapes would be too high, and they would be much more inclined to ferment (try and turn into wine).

L to R: Completely dry and brittle grapes left over from the pressing process.

Immediately after picking, the bunches are loaded straight into the press where a very small amount of very acidic juice is squashed out by an intense amount of pressure. This juice is settled at 0°C, filtered and bottled by February each year. The process of making verjus sounds similar to the process of making wine, on paper, however it is a far more strict and sterile process with little room for error or creativity. The grapes really want to ferment so preventing this is key. Once bottled, the verjus can be used straight away though it does improve the longer it is in the bottle.

Terry and Julie have 4 different bottles of verjus in their range: caramelised verjus, clear verjus in 750ml or 375ml and pink verjus in 750ml. Their clear verjus is made from a blend of chardonnay and viognier grapes while the pink is made from shiraz. The clear verjus is ideal for white sauces, fish dishes and for use in cocktails where you don’t want any colour. The pink verjus is fantastic for deglazing pans and has slightly more flavour and depth than the clear. Saying that, the clear and pink verjus’ are completely interchangeable, it is simply a matter of personal taste and preference.

L to R: The grape juice is settled at minus 5 degrees Celsius for a week or two before being filtered and bottled. Orange Mountain is also renowned for it's award winning wines - join their wine club for member benefits.

Terry only created a small trial amount of caramelised verjus last year and it sold out within a couple of months so he’s increased his volume this year which we know many customers will be thrilled about. As far as we are aware, there is only one other caramelised verjus in the world at this time! It is made by reducing the clear verjus to intensify and sweeten its flavour which takes approximately 10 hours in a large pot. Caramelised verjus can be used to make many dishes richer and is perfect for use in desserts as well as savoury dishes. If you are familiar with vino cotto, it is similar to it and can be used in the same way.

Once people try verjus, Terry and Julie say they fall in love with it and it becomes a kitchen staple. Personally, we use it at least 3 or 4 times a week in cooking at home and just love it. The biggest challenge for Orange Mountain is therefore consumer education in terms of it’s use and the encouragement of experimentation. We really hope you enjoy cooking with Orange Mountain Verjus – we know we do!

A friendly tip: make sure you keep opened bottles of verjus in the fridge otherwise those cheeky grapes will try and ferment into not-so-yummy wine.